Desk Report- 16 December 2020: The World Health Organization (WHO) and Sanofi – one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies – have signed a new agreement for donations of medicines to sustain specific efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “This decades-long collaboration exemplifies a successful public–private partnership that has created meaningful impact in several countries and has brought sleeping sickness closer to elimination”.
Under the new five-year US$ 25 million agreement (2021–2025), Sanofi will support WHO’s global programme for elimination of human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), leishmaniasis, control and prevention of Chagas disease and integrated control of the skin NTDs.1
Sanofi’s commitment to eliminate sleeping sickness has been unfaltering. At the turn of the century, when thousands of cases were detected annually, the company supported investments in research and development of new medicines.
